The Samsung Galaxy S9 forces us to question upgrades for their own sake. On the one hand, there's our desire as consumers to have the very latest tech gadget, even if we don't even use the phone we have now to its full extent.

Galaxy S8's excellent design gets even better; Screen; performance & battery all solid; Camera capable of impressive low-light performance; Price is competitive

Intelligent Scan trades security for convenience; Super Slow-mo is 720p only and needs bright lighting; Bixby still feels gimmicky

At first glance, the Galaxy S9 looks unspectacular, because apart from the repositioning of the fingerprint sensor, Samsung seems not to have changed anything on the surface. Only after you hold the Galaxy S9 in your hand and compare it side-by-side to the Galaxy S8 are the changes in detail...

Performance; Camera; Display; Bixby

Unoriginal design; Slow unlocking; Battery life; Bixby wake-up

I had the Galaxy S8 and the I-Phone 8 Plus and this phone is excellent for the most part. The battery life is good given I keep the display set on QHD. Why keep it on HD or FHD if the screen resolution is QHD I find that a charge does last me the day with adjustments to increase battery life.

QHD+ Display; Good Battery Life; on Standby; Keyboard input is fast; Dolby Atmos is Great sounding; AKG Earphones; Fingerprint Sensor Good; Camera is Great; Photos come out well

Speakerphone a bit low; Some Ringers are low in volume; Battery drains fast if screen stays on

While it's not perfect, the Galaxy S9 is a fantastic device. It's got a brilliant display, great camera, brilliant performance all-round, and in a body that's easily one of the most elegant ever released. Its stereo sound makes such a difference to media consumption too.

Brilliant display; Stereo sound is surprisingly powerful; Curved glass and metal is very attractive; Comfortable to use; Super speedy and fluid performance

Battery isn't great; Camera over-exposes highlights regularly; AR Emoji and Bixby need a lot of improving; Expensive

Samsung invests massive amounts of money in research and development, coming up with the latest features and innovations.

Beautiful design; Superb screen; Great cameras; Feature packed; Impressive performance

Some features could be slicker; It's pricey

The Samsung Galaxy S9 is a continuation of the path the South Korean company started last year with the Galaxy S8. Both devices are very similar and nearly identical in look and feel.

Samsung's latest flagship is really good if you spend most of your time in Instagram feeds or creating content for the internet. For everything else the handset is just a marginal upgrade on last year's Galaxy S8 but you'll be pleased to know that the experience has been refined somewhat in a number...

Despite not feeling like a major improvement over last year's flagship, the Galaxy S9 is still one of the best phones around. Samsung's improvements to its latest flagship work as promised, but don't feel like features that you'd miss by not upgrading.

Good cameras especially in low light; Superior performance; Gorgeous design

No major change since last generation; Lacks the Plus' dual cameras

We're going to have to wait for big jumps in technology, but although the Galaxy S9 only brings a disappointingly small bunch of minor improvements it's still an amazing smartphone that will be hard to beat in 2018.

A little over a week ago, Samsung ushered in their new line of Galaxy S devices in the form of the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus. The S range has long been the pinnacle of the Android OS ecosystem but saw their lead at the top slowly eroding in recent years until the S8 overturned any of the loses in...